Today in History

Today is Thursday, March 24, the 84th day of 2016. There are 282 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320, crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board; investigators said the jetliner was deliberately downed by the 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who had a history of depression and mental illness.

On this date:

In 1765, Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.

In 1832, a mob in Hiram, Ohio, attacked, tarred and feathered Mormon leaders Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon.

In 1913, New York's Palace Theatre, the legendary home of vaudeville, opened on Broadway.

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill granting future independence to the Philippines.

In 1944, in occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal for an attack by Italian partisans the day before that had killed 32 German soldiers.

In 1955, the Tennessee Williams play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opened on Broadway.

In 1958, rock-and-roll singer Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1975, Muhammad Ali defeated Chuck Wepner with a technical knockout in the 15th round of a fight in Richfield, Ohio. (Wepner, a journeyman known as the "Bayonne Bleeder," inspired Sylvester Stallone to make his "Rocky" films.)

In 1976, the president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country's military. British war hero Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, 88, died in Alton, Hampshire, England.

In 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began leaking an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil.

In 1995, after 20 years, British soldiers stopped routine patrols in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In 1999, NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time in its 50-year existence that it had ever attacked a sovereign country. Thirty-nine people were killed when fire erupted in the Mont Blanc tunnel in France and burned for two days.

Ten years ago: Thousands of people across the country protested legislation cracking down on immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally. In Selmer, Tennessee, Mary Winkler was charged with shooting to death her minister-husband, Matthew Winkler, in the parsonage of their church. (Mary Winkler, who said she'd been abused by her husband, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and received a three-year prison sentence, but was granted probation for most of it.)

Five years ago: The Census Bureau released its first set of national-level findings from the 2010 count on race and migration, showing that Hispanics accounted for more than half of the U.S. population increase over the previous decade, exceeding estimates in most states as they crossed a new census milestone: 50 million, or 1 in 6 Americans. A private funeral was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery for Elizabeth Taylor (the service began 15 minutes behind schedule in accordance with the actress' wish to be late for her own funeral).

One year ago: President Barack Obama received Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the White House, where Obama agreed to slow the U.S military pullout from Afghanistan at the request of its new government but insisted the delay would not jeopardize his commitment to end America's longest war before leaving office.

Today's Birthdays: Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is 97. Actor William Smith is 83. Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 77. Actor R. Lee Ermey is 72. Movie director Curtis Hanson is 71. Former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is 69. Rock musician Lee Oskar is 68. Singer Nick Lowe is 67. Rock musician Dougie Thomson (Supertramp) is 65. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is 65. Comedian Louie Anderson is 63. Actress Donna Pescow is 62. Actor Robert Carradine is 62. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is 60. Actress Kelly LeBrock is 56. Rhythm-and-blues DJ Rodney "Kool Kollie" Terry (Ghostown DJs) is 55. TV personality Star Jones is 54. Country-rock musician Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) is 52. Actor Peter Jacobson is 51. Rock singer-musician Sharon Corr (The Corrs) is 46. Actress Lauren Bowles is 46. Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is 46. Rapper Maceo (AKA P.A. Pasemaster Mase) is 46. Actress Megyn Price is 45. Actor Jim Parsons is 43. Christian rock musician Chad Butler (Switchfoot) is 42. Actress Alyson Hannigan is 42. NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is 40. Actress Olivia Burnette is 39. Actress Jessica Chastain is 39. Actor Amir Arison is 38. Actress Lake Bell is 37. Rock musician Benj Gershman (O.A.R.) is 36. Neo-soul musician Jesse Phillips (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 36. Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes is 26.

Thought for Today: "Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald, American author (1896-1940).

(Above Advance for Use Thursday, March 24)

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